1. Field
Exemplary apparatuses and methods relate to measuring a stress level by analyzing a change that occurs in a subject due to stress.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern society, despite advancement in technology, people may be unhappy due to various stress factors. Stress not only reduces psychological happiness but also causes various diseases and physical damage. In particular, results of medical research have confirmed that chronic stress badly affects health. For example, chronic stress may worsen the immune system, increase the risk of infectious disease, and cause ulcers, sleep deprivation, depression, premature birth, underweight baby at birth, neural degeneration that induces impairment of learning and memory, elevation of blood pressure, cardiac complications, and heart rate variations due to high blood lipid levels.
Accordingly, interest in stress and stress-related illness has increased and thus attempts to numerically check stress have been made. For example, stress may be quantitatively checked by measuring a change in a concentration of a specific hormone in the blood. However, in this case, an invasive operation has to be performed, which may cause pain and anxiety.